Future Perfect Continuous

The future perfect continuous shows that an action will continue for a period of time before a specific point in the future. It focuses on the duration of an activity, not its completion.

Form

will + have + been + verb-ing

Affirmative	Negative	Question
By next month, she will have been teaching for five years.	He will not have been waiting long.	Will they have been working here for a year by June?

When to use it

• To show how long something will have continued by a certain future time.
• To express duration of an action leading up to a future moment.
• To emphasize ongoing nature of an activity in the future.

Examples

1. By 2028, I will have been teaching for ten years.
2. At 6 p.m., they will have been working on the project for six hours.
3. She will have been practicing all week when the audition arrives.
4. By the time we get there, the sun will have shining for hours.

Common time expressions

• by + future time (by next year, by 5 p.m.)
• by the time + present simple
• for + duration (for three hours by then)
• when + present simple

Contrast with Future Perfect Simple

Use the future perfect continuous for actions in progress up to a point in the future. Use the future perfect simple for actions completed before a future point.

Continuous (duration)	Simple (completed)
By June, she will have been studying for two years.	By June, she will have finished her degree.

Practice

Put the verbs between brackets in the future perfect continuous.

1. By this time next year, I ______ (work) in Casablanca for five years.
2. At 10 o’clock, she ______ (study) for three hours without a break.
3. By the time we meet again, they ______ (travel) across Europe for a month.
4. He ______ (wait) at the station for thirty minutes by the time the train arrives.
5. Next Friday, we ______ (live) in this neighborhood for exactly two years.
6. By the end of the term, students ______ (prepare) for their exams for weeks.
7. In 2030, my parents ______ (run) their business for twenty years.
8. At 8 p.m., we ______ (cook) dinner for an hour.
9. By the time you finish your degree, you ______ (study) English for nearly ten years.
10. Next month, she ______ (teach) at that school for a decade.

Show answers

1. will have been working
2. will have been studying
3. will have been traveling
4. will have been waiting
5. will have been living
6. will have been preparing
7. will have been running
8. will have been cooking
9. will have been studying
10. will have been teaching